Moons of Neptune – Names & Composition of Neptunes Moons – PlanetFacts.org The Moon Moons of Neptune There are 13 moons discovered to orbit around the 8th planet of the solar system, Neptune. The first, and the largest, moon, Triton, to be discovered was found just 17 days after the planet itself was discovered. After Triton’s discovery, it took another century for astronomers to find the second moon of Neptune. The moons of Neptune are classified as Regular Moons and Irregular Moons. Regular moons are closer to the planet, some even closer than Neptune’s planetary rings. Irregular moons orbit farther from Neptune. The regular moons consist of Despina, Galatea, Larissa, Naiad, Proteus and Thalassa. Naiad and Thalassa are the two regular moons closest to the planet and orbits between two of Neptune’s planetary rings. Despina is believed by astronomers to be a shepherd moon; small moons that orbit just outside the edge of planetary rings. Galatea is the fourth moon closest to Neptune and has a surface that displays no geological changes. It is believed that Galatea is a piece of one of Neptune’s ancient satellites.

Galatea has been discovered to slowly move towards the surface of Neptune, which indicates that it will either crash with Neptune, or break up into planetary rings. Larissa and Proteus are the two largest of Neptune’s regular moons. Larissa has an estimated diameter of 200 km while Proteus is estimated to be around 150-250 km. The irregular moons of Neptune consist of Halimede, Laomedia, Nereid, Neso, Psamanthe, Sao and Triton. Triton is the largest moon with a 2,700 km diameter and is larger than the dwarf planets of the solar system Pluto and Eris. It has such a great mass that it accounts for 99.5% of the mass to orbit Neptune, moons and rings combined. Scientists believe that there may be liquid water inside Triton’s surface that they refer to as “ocean”.

Moons of Neptune i didnt know neptune had moons ice cream man Neptune is my favorite planet after earth ☺ love bug thanks abunch this helped me so much on my space project although i have to say that i found different information on different web sources so it didnt help with some planets,asteroids,and comets i knew it had 13 moons it helped also ;D This has helped us heaps in science 😀 Thankyoooooou planet facts people oh no you didnt!!!!!JB the moons of neptune are not THAT stupid!!! 🙂 i mean if it didnt have moons …….ah i got nothin 🙂 JB The moons on neptune is Stupid Jackson Driever How Many Moons Does Neptune Have? - Universe Today Universe Today How Many Moons Does Neptune Have? Article Updated: 2 Jun , 2016 by Matt Williams Neptune, that icy gas giant that is the eighth planet from our Sun, was discovered in 1846 by two astronomers – Urbain Le Verrier and Johann Galle. In keeping with the convention of planetary nomenclature, Neptune was named after the Roman god of the sea (the equivalent to the Greek Poseidon).

And just seventeen days after it was discovered, astronomers began to notice that it too had a system of moons. Initially, only Triton – Neptune’s largest moon – could be observed. But by the mid-20th century and after, thanks to improvements in ground-based telescopes and the development of robotic space probes, many more moons would be discovered. Neptune now has 14 recognized satellites, and in honor of of their parent planet, all are named for minor water deities in Greek mythology. Discovery and Naming: Triton , being the largest and most massive of Neptune’s moons, was the first to be discovered. It was observed by William Lassell on October 10th, 1846, just seventeen days after Neptune was discovered. It would be almost a century before any other moons would be discovered. The first was Nereid , Neptune’s second largest and most massive moon, which was discovered on May 1st, 1949, by Gerard P. Kuiper (for whom the Kuiper Belt is named) using photographic plates from the McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis, Texas. The third moon, later named Larissa , was first observed by Harold J. Reitsema, William B.

Hubbard, Larry A. Lebofsky and David J. Tholen on May 24th, 1981. Hubble Space Telescope composite picture showing the location of a newly discovered moon, designated S/2004 N 1. Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Showalter (SETI Institute). The discovery of this moon was purely fortuitous, and occurred as a result of the ongoing search for rings similar to those discovered around Uranus four years earlier. If rings were in fact present, the star’s luminosity would decrease slightly just before the planet’s closest approach. While observing a star’s close approach to Neptune, the star’s luminosity dipped, but only for several seconds. This indicated the presence of a moon rather than a ring. No further moons were found until Voyager 2 flew by Neptune in 1989. In the course of passing through the system, the space probe rediscovered Larissa and discovered five additional inner moons: Naiad , Thalassa, Despina, Galatea and Proteus.

In 2001, two surveys using large ground-based telescopes – the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory and the Canada-France-Hawaii telescopes – found five additional outer moons bringing the total to thirteen. Follow-up surveys by two teams in 2002 and 2003 respectively re-observed all five of these moons – which were Halimede, Sao, Psamathe, Laomedeia, and Neso. And then on July 15th, 2013, a team of astronomers led by Mark R. Showalter of the SETI Institute revealed that they had discovered a previously unknown fourteenth moon in images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope from 2004–2009. The as yet unnamed fourteenth moon, currently identified as S/2004 N 1, is thought to measure no more than 16–20 km in diameter. In keeping with astronomical convention, Neptune’s moons are all taken from Greek and Roman mythology.

In this case, all are named for gods of the sea, or for the children of Poseidon (which include Triton, Proteus, Depsina and Thalassa), minor Greek water dieties (Naiad and Nereid) or Nereids , the water nymphs in Greek mythology (Halimede, Galatea, Neso, Sao, Laomedeia and Psamathe). However, many of the moons were not officially named until the 20th century. The name Triton, which was originally suggested by Camille Flammarion in his 1880 book Astronomie Populaire , but not into common usage until at least the 1930s. Inner (Regular) Moons: Neptune’s Regular Moons are those located closest to the planet and which follow circular prograde orbits that lie in the planet’s equatorial plane.

They are, in order of distance from Neptune: Naiad (48,227 km), Thalassa (50,074 km), Despina (52,526 km), Galatea (61,953 km), Larissa (73,548 km), S/2004 N 1 (105,300 ± 50 km), and Proteus (117,646 km). All but the outer two are within Neptune-synchronous orbit (meaning that orbit Neptune slower than it’s orbital period (0.6713 days) and thus are being tidally decelerated. The inner moons are closely associated with Neptune’s narrow ring system . The two innermost satellites, Naiad and Thalassa, orbit between the Galle and LeVerrier rings, whereas Despina orbits just inside the LeVerrier ring. The next moon, Galatea, orbits just inside the most prominent Adams ring and its gravity helps maintaining the ring by containing its particles.

Based on observational data and assumed densities, Naiad measures 96 × 60 × 52 km and weighs approximately 1.9 x 1017 kg. Meanwhile, Thalassa measures 108 x 100 × 52 km and weighs 3.5 x 1017 kg; Despina measures 180 x 148 x 128 and weighs 21 x 1017 kg; Galatea measures 204 x 184 x 144 and weighs 37.5 x 1017 kg; Larissa measures 216 x 204 x 168 and weighs 49.5 x 1017 kg; S/2004 N1 measures 16-20 km in diameter and weighs 0.5 ± 0.4 x 1017 kg; and Proteus measures 436 x 416 x 402 and weighs 50.35 x 1017 kg.

Only the two largest regular moons have been imaged with a resolution sufficient to discern their shapes and surface features. Nevertheless, with the exception of Larissa and Proteus (which are largely rounded) all of Neptune’s inner moons are believed to be elongated in shape. In addition, all the inner moons dark objects, with geometric albedo ranging from 7 to 10%. Their spectra also indicated that they are made from water ice contaminated by some very dark material, probably organic compounds. In this respect, the inner Neptunian moons are similar to the inner moons of Uranus. Outer (Irregular) Moons: Neptune’s irregular moons consist of the planet’s remaining satellites (including Triton). They generally follow inclined eccentric and often retrograde orbits far from Neptune; the only exception is Triton, which orbits close to the planet following a circular orbit, though retrograde and inclined. In order of their distance from the planet, the irregular moons are Triton, Nereid, Halimede, Sao, Laomedeia, Neso and Psamathe, a group that includes both prograde and retrograde objects.

With the exception of Triton and Nereid, Neptune’s irregular moons are similar to those of other giant planets and are believed to have been gravitationally captured by Neptune. In terms of size and mass, the irregular moons are relatively consistent, ranging from approximately 40 km in diameter and 4 x 1016 kg in mass (Psamathe) to 62 km and 16 x 1016 kg for Halimede. Triton and Nereid: Triton and Nereid are unusual irregular satellites and are thus treated separately from the other five irregular Neptunian moons. Between these two and the other irregular moons, four major differences have been noted. First of all, they are the largest two known irregular moons in the Solar System. Triton itself is almost an order of magnitude larger than all other known irregular moons and comprises more than 99.5% of all the mass known to orbit Neptune (including the planet’s rings and thirteen other known moons). Global Color Mosaic of Triton, taken by Voyager 2 in 1989.

Credit: NASA/JPL/USGS Secondly, they both have atypically small semi-major axes, with Triton’s being over an order of magnitude smaller than those of all other known irregular moons. Thirdly, they both have unusual orbital eccentricities: Nereid has one of the most eccentric orbits of any known irregular satellite, and Triton’s orbit is a nearly perfect circle. Finally, Nereid also has the lowest inclination of any known irregular satellite With a mean diameter of around 2700 km and a mass of 214080 ± 520 x 1017 kg, Triton is the largest of Neptune’s moons, and the only one large enough to achieve hydrostatic equilibrium (i.e. is spherical in shape). At a distance of 354,759 km from Neptune, it also sits between the planet’s inner and outer moons. Triton follows a retrograde and quasi-circular orbit, and is composed largely of nitrogen, methane, carbon dioxide and water ices. With a geometric albedo of more than 70% and a Bond albedo as high as 90%, it is also one of the brightest objects in the Solar System.

The surface has a reddish tint, owning to the interaction of ultraviolet radiation and methane, causing tholins . Triton is also one of the coldest moons in the Solar System, with surface temperature of about 38 K (?235.2 °C). However, owing to the moon being geologically active (which results in cryovolcanism ) and surface temperature variations that cause sublimation, Triton is one of only two moons in the Solar System that has a substantial atmosphere. Much like it’s surface, this atmosphere is composed primarily of nitrogen with small amounts of methane and carbon monoxide, and with an estimated pressure of about 14 ?bar. Using the CRIRES instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, a team of astronomers has been able to see that the summer is in full swing in Triton’s southern hemisphere. Credit: ESO Triton has a relatively high density of about 2 g/cm3 indicating that rocks constitute about two thirds of its mass, and ices (mainly water ice) the remaining one third. There also may be a layer of liquid water deep inside Triton, forming a subterranean ocean.

Surface features include the large southern polar cap, older cratered planes cross-cut by graben and scarps, as well as youthful features caused by endogenic resurfacing. Because of its retrograde orbit and relative proximity to Neptune (closer than the Moon is to Earth), Triton is grouped with the planet’s irregular moons (see below). In addition, it is believed to be a captured object, possibly a dwarf planet that was once part of the Kuiper Belt. At the same time, these orbital characteristics are the reason why Triton experiences tidal deceleration. and will eventually spiral inward and collide with the planet in about 3.6 billion years. Nereid is the third-largest moon of Neptune. It has a prograde but very eccentric orbit and is believed to be a former regular satellite that was scattered to its current orbit through gravitational interactions during Triton’s capture. Water ice has been spectroscopically detected on its surface. Nereid shows large, irregular variations in its visible magnitude, which are probably caused by forced precession or chaotic rotation combined with an elongated shape and bright or dark spots on the surface.

Formation: Given the lopsided distribution of mass in its moons, it is widely believed that Triton was captured after the formation of Neptune’s original satellite system – much of which would have been destroyed in the process of capture. Many theories have been offered regarding the mechanisms of its capture over the years. The most widely-accepted is that Triton is a surviving member of a binary Kuiper Belt Object that was disrupted with an encounter with Neptune. In this scenario, Triton’s captured was the result of a three-body encounter, where it fell into a retrograde orbit while the other object was either destroyed or ejected in the process. Triton’s orbit upon capture would have been highly eccentric, and would have caused chaotic perturbations in the orbits of the original inner Neptunian satellites, causing them to collide and reduce to a disc of rubble. Only after Triton’s orbit became circular again could some of the rubble re-accrete into the present-day regular moons. This means it is likely that Neptune’s present inner satellites are not the original bodies that formed with Neptune. Numerical simulations show that there is a 0.41 probability that the moon Halimede collided with Nereid at some time in the past.

Although it is not known whether any collision has taken place, both moons appear to have similar (“grey”) colors, implying that Halimede could be a fragment of Nereid. Given its distance from the Sun, the only mission to ever study Neptune and its moons up close was the Voyager 2 mission. And though no missions are currently being planned, several proposals have been made that would see a robotic probe dispatched to the system sometime in the late 2020s or early 2030s. We have many interesting articles on Neptune, Neptune’s Moons, and the Trans-Neptunian region here at Universe Today. Here’s a full article about Neptune’s Moon Triton , Naiad and Nereid and S/2004 N 1 . Here’s a lovely article on the latest Trans-Neptunian Objects to be discovered, and how Astronomer are Predicting at Least Two More Large Planets in the Solar System For more information, check out NASA’s Solar System Exploration page titled “Neptune: The Windiest Planet” . Share this: Neptune. “The eighth planet” Why not the last planet if Pluto is not a planet?

Not calling it the last planet means that we all believe that Pluto is indeed a planet Pete Moons Moons: Moons are `fossils" into a planet's past.

The major, named moon systems are: Earth: Luna (The Moon) Mars: Deimos, Phobos Jupiter: Adrastea, Amalthea, Ananke, Callisto, Carme, Elara, Europa, Ganymede, Himalia, Io, Leda, Lysithea, Metis, Pasiphae, Sinope, Thebe Saturn: Atlas, Calypso, Dione, Enceladus, Epimetheus, Helene, Hyperion, Iapetus, Janus, Mimas, Pan, Pandora, Phoebe, Prometheus, Rhea, Telesto, Tethys, Titan Uranus: Ariel, Belinda, Bianca, Cordelia, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Miranda, Oberon, Ophelia, Portia, Puck, Rosalind, Titania, Umbriel Neptune: Despina, Galatea, Larissa, Naiad, Nereid, Proteus, Thalassa, Triton Pluto: Charon (note: Pluto/Charon form a binary system, but Charon is the smaller so it is classed as the moon of Pluto) New, smaller moons are being discovered all the

 time with recent space missions.

The total count of moons (as of 12/18/2001) are: Mercury - 0 moons Mars - 2 moons Uranus - 20 moons Venus - 0 moons Jupiter - 28 moons Neptune - 8 moons Earth - 1 moon Saturn - 30 moons Pluto - 1 moon Moons range in shape from highly irregular to spheres. Their shape reflects their formation history, irregular objects are ill-formed moons (captured asteroids or comets) or pieces of a larger moon, spherical objects were once molten spheres, probably at the time of their formation. Moons of Mars: Deimos & Phobos We speculate, from their irregular appearances and low mean densities, that Deimos and Phobos, are captured asteroids. Both Deimos and Phobos are saturated with craters. Deimos has a smoother appearance caused by partial filling of some of its craters. Moons of Jupiter: Jupiter has 63 confirmed moons as of Jan 2009, i.e. moons with known orbits around Jupiter. Eight of these moons are regular, meaning they have prograde, nearly circular orbits.

They are composed of the four Galilean satellites, plus the inner or Amalthea group: Adrastea is a typical small moon Metis is the innermost known satellite of Jupiter Amalthea is one of Jupiter's smaller, irregular moons, an example of moon collecting dust from another moon (Io) The remaining 55 moons are irregular, they have a mixture of prograde and retrograde orbits with high inclinations and eccentricities. Jupiter's regular satellites are believed to have formed from a circumplanetary disk, a ring of accreting gas and solid debris analogous to a protoplanetary disk. The irregular satellites are substantially smaller objects with more distant and eccentric orbits. They form families with shared similarities in orbit (semi-major axis, inclination, eccentricity) and composition; it is believed that these are at least partially collisional families that were created when larger (but still small) parent bodies were shattered by impacts from asteroids captured by Jupiter's gravitational field. Moons of Saturn: The moons of Saturn are numerous and diverse, ranging from tiny moonlets less than 1 kilometer across to the enormous Titan, which is larger than the planet Mercury.

Saturn has sixty-two moons with confirmed orbits, fifty-three of which have names, and only thirteen of which have diameters larger than 50 kilometers. Saturn has seven moons that are large enough to become spherical. Twenty-four of Saturn's moons are regular satellites; they have prograde orbits not greatly inclined to the Saturn's equatorial plane. These include the seven major satellites, four small moons which exist in a Trojan orbit with larger moons, two mutually co-orbital moons and two moons which act as shepherds of Saturn's F Ring. Two other known regular satellites orbit within gaps in Saturn's rings. The relatively large Hyperion is locked in a resonance with Titan. The remaining regular moons orbit near the outer edge of the A Ring, within G Ring and between the major moons Mimas and Enceladus. The regular satellites are traditionally named after Titans and Titanesses or other figures associated with the mythological Saturn. The remaining thirty-eight, all small except one, are irregular satellites, whose orbits are much farther from Saturn, have high inclinations, and are mixed between prograde and retrograde. These moons are probably captured minor planets, or debris from the breakup of such bodies after they were captured, creating collisional families.

The irregular satellites have been classified by their orbital characteristics into the Inuit, Norse, and Gallic groups, and their names are chosen from the corresponding mythologies. The largest of the irregular moons is Phoebe, the ninth moon of Saturn, discovered at the end of the 19th century. The rings of Saturn are made up of objects ranging in size from microscopic to hundreds of meters, each of which is on its own orbit about the planet. Thus, a precise number of Saturnian moons cannot be given, as there is no objective boundary between the countless small anonymous objects that form Saturn's ring system and the larger objects that have been named as moons. At least 150 moonlets embedded in the rings have been detected by the disturbance they create in the surrounding ring material, though this is thought to be only a small sample of the total population of such objects. Daphnis drifts through the Keeler gap Atlas the second of Saturn's known satellites, orbits near the outer edge of the A-ring Enceladus is one of the innermost moons of Saturn.

Enceladus reflects almost 100 percent of the sunlight that strikes it and has evidence of internal heating and recent resurfacing effects Hyperion is one of the smaller moons of Saturn. It has a pock-marked body and is the largest irregularly shaped satellite ever observed.

Iapetus is one of the stranger moons of Saturn, its leading side is dark with a slight reddish color while its trailing side is bright Dione is the densest moon of Saturn other than Titan, and has several usual characteristics: 1) has a rocky core and ice crust, 2) is heavy cratering on trailing hemisphere, 3) has bright, wispy features Rhea is the largest airless satellite of Saturn that has different regions with different crater sizes indicating that parts of the moon have undergone resurfacing since formation Mimas is one of the innermost moons of Saturn with a very large impact crater that came close to fracturing the moon Tethys is an icy body similar in nature to Dione and Rhea Phoebe is the last of the known satellites of Saturn and orbits in a retrograde direction (opposite to the direction of the other satellites' orbits) in a plane much closer to the ecliptic than to Saturn's equatorial plane. Thus, Phoebe may be a captured asteroid with a composition unmodified since the time it was formed in the outer Solar System.

Moons of Uranus: Uranus, the seventh planet of the Solar System, has 27 known moons, all of which are named after characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. William Herschel discovered the first two moons, Titania and Oberon, in 1787, and the other spherical moons were discovered in 1851 by William Lassell (Ariel and Umbriel) and in 1948 by Gerard Kuiper (Miranda). The remaining moons were discovered after 1985, either during the Voyager 2 flyby mission or with the aid of advanced Earth-based telescopes. A montage of Uranus' large moons and one smaller moon: from left to right Puck, Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon. Uranian moons are divided into three groups: thirteen inner moons, five major moons, and nine irregular moons. The inner moons are small dark bodies that share common properties and origins with the planet's rings. The five major moons are massive enough to have achieved hydrostatic equilibrium (they were once molten spheres), and four of them show signs of internally driven processes such as canyon formation and volcanism on their surfaces.

The largest of these five, Titania, is 1,578 km in diameter and the eighth-largest moon in the Solar System, and about 20 times less massive than Earth's Moon. Uranus's irregular moons have elliptical and strongly inclined (mostly retrograde) orbits at great distances from the planet. Ariel is a relatively small satellite and is the brightest moon of Uranus Miranda with a jumbled surface unlike anything in the Solar System, indicates evidence of violent past with possible multiple shattering and reassembly Titania is the largest moon of Uranus and is marked by a few large impact basins Moons of Neptune: Neptune has thirteen known moons, by far the largest of which is Triton, discovered by William Lassell just 17 days after the discovery of Neptune itself. Over a century passed before the discovery of the second natural satellite, called Nereid. Neptune's moons are named for minor water deities in Greek mythology. Unique among all large planetary moons, Triton is an irregular satellite, as its orbit is retrograde to Neptune's rotation and inclined relative to the planet's equator.

The next-largest irregular satellite in the Solar System, Saturn's moon Phoebe, is only 0.03% Triton's mass. Triton is massive enough to have achieved hydrostatic equilibrium and to retain a thin atmosphere capable of forming clouds and hazes. Both its atmosphere and its surface are composed mainly of nitrogen with small amounts of methane and carbon monoxide. Triton's surface appears relatively young, and was probably modified by internally driven processes within the last few million years. The temperature at its surface is about 38K. Inward of Triton are six regular satellites, all of which have prograde orbits in planes that lie close to Neptune's equatorial plane. Some of these orbit among Neptune's rings. The largest of them is Proteus. Neptune also has six outer irregular satellites, including Nereid, whose orbits are much farther from Neptune, have high inclinations, and are mixed between prograde and retrograde. The two outermost ones, Psamathe and Neso, have the largest orbits of any natural satellites discovered in the Solar System to date.

Proteus is one of the darkest objects in the Solar System Other Moons of Neptune - The Solar System on Sea and Sky 22.0 Proteus Proteus [PROH-tee-us] is the sixth of Neptune's moons and is the second largest. It was named after a mythical sea god who could change his shape at will. Proteus was discovered in 1989 by the Voyager 2 spacecraft. It is irregular in shape and is probably about as large as an irregular body can be before gravity pulls it into a spherical shape. Like Saturn's moon, Phoebe, Proteus is extremely dark in color. It reflects only 6% of the sunlight that strikes it. Proteus is larger than Nereid, but was discovered much later because it is so dark and so close to Neptune that it is difficult to spot in the planet's bright glare. Its surface is heavily cratered, and shows no signs of geologic activity. Voyager 2 Image of Proteus (NASA / JPL) 20.3 Nereid Nereid [NEER-ee-ed] is the eighth and outermost of Neptune's moons and is the third largest.

It was named after the sea nymphs who were the daughters of Nereus and Doris. Nereid was discovered by Gerard Kuiper in 1949. It reflects about 14% of the sunlight that strikes it. This makes it a little brighter than Earth's moon and more than twice as reflective than Proteus. Nereid is famous for having the most eccentric orbit of any moon in the Solar System. Its distance from Neptune ranges from 841,100 miles (1,353,600 km) to 5,980,200 miles (9,623,700 km). This odd orbit suggests to some astronomers that Nereid may be a captured asteroid or Kuiper Belt object. Not much else is known about this moon. Voyager 2 Image of Nereid (NASA / JPL) Neptune Has 14 Moons: Neptunian Satellite Facts (Infographic) Fourteen moons orbit Neptune, including enigmatic Triton, which moves backward in its orbit.

Credit: by Karl Tate, Infographics Artist Of the 14 satellites of Neptune, the largest is Triton, which is in a retrograde (backward) orbit around the planet. Triton is the largest moon in the solar system to do this. On July 15, a 14th moon of Neptune , provisionally called S/2004 N 1, was announced. Neptune has seven inner moons. Their orbits lie among several faint rings and partial rings composed of dust and ice particles. Outwards from Neptune, the inner moons are Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Galatea, Larissa, S/2004 N 1 and Proteus. Next outward from Neptune , Triton is one of four moons in the solar system known to have an atmosphere. The thin nitrogen haze is thought to have evaporated off of the frozen surface. Triton is Neptune's largest moon , at 1,677 miles (2,700 km) in diameter. Because Triton moves backward in its orbit, astronomers think the icy moon formed in the frozen Kuiper belt, located in the outer solar system. Later, Neptune's gravity captured Triton.

Neptune Quiz: How Well Do You Know the Other Blue Planet? After Triton comes Nereid. At 211 miles (340 km) in diameter, Nereid is one of the largest irregular moons in the solar system . Irregular moons have orbits that are highly inclined to the planet's equator. Much further out than Nereid orbit five outer moons, Halimede, Sao, Laomedeia, Neso and Psmathe. These irregular moons travel in highly tilted orbits. The 13 Moons - Neptune Neptune Neptune has 13 moons. Here's a list of them in order fromm biggest to smallest: 1. Triton 12. Laomedeida 13. Psamathe The largest moon of Neptune is Triton. 17 days after Berlin discovered Neptune, England's astronomers, William Lassell, discovered Triton. Since the planet was named for the Roman God of sea, it's moons were named for the various, lesser sea gods and nymphs in Greek Mythology. Voyager 2 revealed many details about Triton.

Part of its surface resembles the rind of a cantaloupe.There were ice volcanoes that spit out what is proabably a micxture of liquid nitrogen, methane, and dust, which instantly freezes and snows back down to the surface. This moon is about -400° F because of what little sunlight reaches it. It is also one of the coldest objects in our Solar System (Solar System Exploration...) . Neptune's Moons: 14 Discovered So Far Neptune's Moons: 14 Discovered So Far By Elizabeth Howell, Space.com Contributor | June 30, 2016 06:18pm ET MORE This diagram shows the orbits of several moons located close to the planet Neptune. All of them were discovered in 1989 by NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft, with the exception of S/2004 N 1, which was discovered in archival Hubble Space Telescope images taken from 2004 to 2009. Image released July 15, 2013. Credit: NASA, ESA, and A.

Feild (STScI) Neptune, the farthest planet from the sun, has 14 known moons. Almost half of the discoveries took place decades after NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft swung by the planet and its system, demonstrating just how far telescope technology has progressed. (One moon was also spotted in 2013 after being lost for nearly 25 years .) Moons of this planet are named for Greek or Roman mythological characters with links to Neptune, Poseidon, or the ocean, according to International Astronomical Union guidelines. The irregular satellites are named after the daughters of Nereus and Doris, who were attendants of Neptune. The latest moon discovery was announced in 2013. Scientists spotted the satellite — temporarily called called S/2004 N 1 — after analyzing old images from the Hubble Space Telescope . The moon is tiny, said to be about 100 million times fainter than what the naked eye can spot in the night sky . Early telescopic discoveries Due to Neptune's distance from Earth , only two moons were confirmed with ground telescopes before Voyager 2. The first one, Triton, was actually discovered only 17 days after the planet itself was found.

Triton is the only large moon in the solar system with a retrograde orbit, circling in the opposite direction of Neptune's rotation. Found by British astronomer William Lassell in 1846, it remained a small dot in a telescope for well over a century until the Voyager 2 spacecraft flew through Neptune's system in 1989. The moon, which is 1,680 miles (2,700 kilometers) in diameter, has few craters on it. The surface consists of "smooth volcanic plains, mounds and round pits formed by icy lava flows," according to NASA. Scientists believe Triton has a frozen nitrogen crust overlaying a rocky, metal core and ice-filled mantle. It also has a nitrogen atmosphere — likely created from volcanic activity — with methane traces. Voyager 2 also saw geysers, making Triton one of only a few moons known to be geologically active. Ahead of the New Horizons flyby of Pluto in 2015, NASA released the best-ever map of Triton because the two worlds were expected to be somewhat similar ; this would allow for comparisons.

Nereid is the other confirmed telescopic discovery, but it is much smaller: 105 miles (170 kilometers). It was discovered in 1949 by Dutch-American astronomer Gerard Kuiper, but was so small that Voyager 2 only managed to capture a distant, blurry image as it flew by. Scientists believe Nereid is a captured asteroid or Kuiper Belt Object because its orbit is eccentric, NASA stated. It is distant from Neptune, in an orbit that takes 360 Earth days to complete. Voyager 2's finds Voyager 2 flew through Neptune's system in August 1989, and found several satellites during its journey. Astronomers did technically spot Larissa , a 60-mile (97-kilometer) moon, in 1981 with a ground telescope. But it wasn't confirmed until 1989, when the spacecraft was close by. Voyager 2's images showed an asteroid-like body with a surface pockmarked with craters. The moon's orbit is slowly moving closer to Neptune. Scientists believe it will either smack into the planet's atmosphere, or break into a ring if tidal forces first rip the moon apart.

Proteus was a surprise find because it was so large: 130 miles (210 kilometers), bigger than the moon Nereid that was first spotted from Earth. Proteus, however, is much darker and could have eluded telescopic detection for that reason. The moon has a lumpy shape with many craters. If it was just a bit bigger, its gravity would pull the moon's shape closer to a sphere, NASA said. Tiny Naiad – which looks a bit like a potato in shape – probably is a combination of fragments from several Neptune satellites, NASA said. The moon wasn't found by astronomers again until 2013, when scientists used a different technique on Hubble Space Telescope images to reduce Neptune's glare – making the moon pop out. Thalassa probably has a similar composition to Naiad, but the planet is disc-shaped despite its small size. Both moons also have orbits that will eventually fall into Neptune. The spacecraft also found Galatea – which may have gravitational effects on Neptune's rings – and Despina , which is within the rings themselves.

Discoveries after Voyager 2 While there is no spacecraft en route to Neptune, telescope technology on the ground is improving with the aid of tools such as adaptive optics. There also are telescopes in space that don't have to fight through the Earth's atmosphere to see things. Both of these changes allowed many Neptune moon discoveries in the early 2000s. Four moon discoveries were announced at once in 2002: Laomedeia , Halimede , Sao and Neso . These moons are so small and distant that little is known about them besides their orbits. Most probably were formed after collisions from stray rocks in the vicinity. The team that found them used the 4-meter Blanco telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, and the 3.6-meter Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Psamathe was found just a year later using the 8.3-meter Subaru reflector at the Mauna Kea Observatory. Neso's and Psamathe's orbits are somewhat similar, but not much more is known about the moon besides that. The last moon found to date has been discovered so recently that no official name is assigned to it.

Designated S/2004 N 1 for now, astronomers found the moon in 2013 through analyzing old Hubble Space Telescope images. It's just 12 miles (19 kilometers) in diameter. Further close-up observations of Neptune's moons will likely require another spacecraft, but as of mid-2016 none have been approved by NASA or the European Space Agency. Over the years, several working groups have proposed different ideas for getting to Neptune, but the mission concepts have yet to leave the drawing board due to reported budgetary or plutonium shortages (as plutonium is required to get a powered spacecraft out that far). As of 2015, however, NASA said it is considering looking at a Uranus or Neptune mission as a possible near-future “flagship” mission. Such a mission, however, likely wouldn't get to Neptune until the 2030s, or about 50 years after Voyager flew past. Credit: by Karl Tate, Infographics Artist Editor's Recommendations Neptune Moons and Rings - Windows to the Universe Neptune has moons. It also has rings, but its rings are different from Saturn's. Neptune's largest moon is named Triton .

Triton is much larger than any of the planet's other moons. Triton is a very cold place, so the moon is covered with ice. Even though Triton is cold there is a lot going on there. It has geysers like the ones at Yellowstone Park on Earth. The geysers shoot ice 8 km (5 miles) high into Triton's thin atmosphere ! There may be water under the ice at Triton. It is even possible that there might be life in that water. The interior of Triton is probably geologically active. The rest of Neptune's moons are much smaller than Triton. Nereid was discovered by Gerard Kuiper in 1949. Despina, Galatea, Larissa, Naiad, Proteus and Thalassa were found by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1989. Five more small moons have been found recently. Three of those were discovered in 2002 and two more were found in 2003. The newest moons don't have official names yet. Neptune's rings are much darker than Saturn's bright rings . Saturn's rings are made of ice, which reflects lots of light.

Neptune's rings are probably made of rocks and dust. Rocks and dust don't reflect as much light. The Moons of Neptune Neptune - Astronomy Games For Kids - KidsAstronomy.com Discovered in 1989 by Voyager 2, Thalassa is a small, irregularly shaped world. Thalassa was a daughter of Aether and Hemera in Greek Mythology. Despina The third of Neptune's known moons is the world of Despina. This small icy world was discovered in 1989 by Voyager 2. In Greek Mythology Despina is the daughter of Neptune and Demeter. Neptune's fourth moon is named Galatea. Galatea was discovered by Voyager 2 in 1989. Galatea was a Sicilian who was loved by the Cyclops Polyphemus. Outer Moons Larissa Discovered by Harold Reitsema, Larissa is the fifth of Neptune's moons. Larissa is a small, heavily cratered world. Its cratered surface suggests that it is probably very old. Larissa was a daughter of Pelasgus.

Proteus Proteus is Neptune's second largest moon, but it is still not very big. As you can see by looking at the picture, this world is not very round. That is because its gravity is not strong enough to pull it into a ball shape. Proteus was a god of the sea, capable of changing his shape. Triton Triton is by far the largest of Neptune's moons. Despite its large size, Triton probably did not form around Neptune. Scientists believe that Triton was captured by Neptune long ago. So where did this large world form? Many scientists today believe that Triton formed as a planet far out in the Solar System. Eventually it was shaken from its orbit and sent in towards Neptune. Because of Neptune's large size and gravity, Triton was captured as it passed Neptune. Triton orbits around Neptune in the opposite direction of Neptune's rotation. Triton is slowly getting closer and closer to Neptune's surface. Eventually, in a very long time, this moon will crash into Neptune. Triton, which was discovered in 1846 by William Lassell, was named after a god of the sea who was the son of Neptune.

Nereid Nereid is the outermost of Neptune's moons, and the third largest. This world, which was discovered in 1949 by Kuiper, has a strange shaped orbit. It orbits Neptune in a long skinny oval, not in a short fat oval like the other planets and moons of the Solar System. This strange orbit makes it almost certain that Nereid is a captured asteroid or comet. In Greek Mythology Nereid was a sea nymph. The Totally Free Children's Learning Network Educational Games

Question: Naiad and Proteus are two of the thirteen moons of which planet?
Answer: Neptune